Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
• Sprinkle about 1 tablespoon of something dry and high in nitrogen on the floor of the container, such as
blood meal, or high-nitrogen bird or bat guano. I actually use my custom high-nitrogen layer blend (also
found in this topic) for this purpose.
• Sprinkle about 1 tablespoon of dry, all-purpose nutrients, like Organicare Pure or something all natural
with equal N-P-K numbers as close to the same as possible.
• Then use a few inches' worth of my custom steer manure bottom layer blend; keeping in mind you will
NOT want to set the transplant's root ball directly on the steer manure bottom layer. Leave some room
here.
At this point I would water the container soil mix (basically just the steer manure bottom layer and some
extra nutrients on the floor of the container) just to make sure it's good and moist, but not wet. I allow
this to sit and process for at least a couple of days. I then like to use some type of high-quality soil mix
just under the root ball at the time of transplanting. This soil mix should have added Mycorrhizal fungi,
but if you don't have any soil like that available to you, then get some granular Myco fungi to place just
under the root ball before setting it down. I would use about 1 teaspoon of the granular Myco fungi for
this application. The Myco fungi inoculation is an essential part of container growing in TLO, and your
yields—among other things—will suck without any Myco fungi alive and well in your container soil mix.
Use at least an inch of regular quality soil mix + Myco fungi directly under the root ball.
Good myco fungi is available in both granular and soluble versions
• Forthefill, usethecustom soilmixIrecommend aboveforsupernatural growthandresults. Ifyoucan't
usetherecommendedsoilmix,agoodbaggedorganicsoilmixwillalsoworkwell.Fortheverytopinch
or so, add about a 50% cut of earthworm castings or compost to the soil mix.
• The first watering must be done with water that's free of both chlorine and chloramine. For this first wa-
teringbeforemakingthespikeholesuseabout1quartofwater.Waitafewminutesthenmakeyourspike
holes close to the outer rim of the container. Remember, you don't want the roots to reach these spikes
for at least a couple days. Fill the spike holes with your chosen fill mixes. I of course recommend my
custom spike mixes above, as they are proven winners for me.
• Timeforalittletoppingoffwithabout½tablespoonofcustomhigh-nitrogenblend,bloodmeal,orhigh-
N bat guano. Sprinkle this around on top being careful to avoid getting any right up next to the stem.
